Copyright Lawsuits Plummet in Aftermath of RIAA Campaign

New federal copyright infringement lawsuits plummeted to a six-year low in 2009, the year after the Recording Industry Association of America abandoned its litigation campaign against file sharers, court records show.

Copyright lawsuits numbered 2,192 in 2009, down almost a third from the previous year, and represented more than a 50 percent drop from 2005, when the recording industry’s legal machinery was in full gear.

The RIAA Bump? U.S. copyright cases more than doubled amid the recording industry's litigation campaign against file sharers. Source: Administrative Office of the Courts

The RIAA, the record labels’ lobbying and litigation arm, announced the end of its 5-year-old lawsuit campaign in December 2008, after having targeted some 18,000 individuals, usually naming dozens or hundreds of defendants per suit.

In interviews with Threat Level, copyright attorneys were in agreement that the termination of the litigation campaign is largely responsible for last year’s low numbers, though economic conditions may also have played a role. “When economic times are bad, lawsuits drop,” says New York copyright attorney Ray Dowd.

When the first round of RIAA lawsuits were filed on Sept. 8, 2003 — targeting 261 defendants around the country — it was a hairpin turn from the RIAA’s previous strategy of going after file sharing services, rather than individual users. The RIAA — representing the world’s big four music companies, Sony BMG, Universal Music, EMI and Warner Music — has said its lawsuits were largely a public relations effort, aimed at striking fear into the hearts of would-be downloaders.

Most everyone who was sued settled out of court for a few thousand dollars rather than risk Copyright Act fines of up to $150,000 per purloined music track.

Only two defendants represented themselves at trial. Both lost massive judgments and remain embroiled in litigation today.

As 2008 ended, the RIAA announced it was done suing individuals and instead would focus on getting copyright thieves barred from the internet. The nation’s major ISP’s, however, have declined to adopt the so-called “graduated response” or “three strikes” strategies.

In March, a consortium of independent filmmakers launched an RIAA-style mass-litigation campaign targeting thousands of BitTorrent users accused of pilfering their movies.

Those lawsuits, like the RIAA’s, begin after content owners track infringing content online, then pinpoint the infringing IP addresses and sue.